Royalty and the Demon
by Kaida-Chan414
Summary: Katara, a member of the royal branch, is sent on a mission to aid the sand. What she doesn't expect is to meet a certian redhead that will capture her attion fully. The need to help him change overwalms her. What will she do to save Gaara?
1. Chapter 1

_AN: requested by KataraUchiha. sorry it's so short and it took so long to get out. it's been hard trying to find time to work on my stories lately but i'll try hard and get this one updated soon for you._

The cries of two newly born babies cry out into the night. One will live a normal life the other's fate will be twisted for life. A demon, the dragon demon Chusi (chu'si "snake flower"), attacked the Uchiha clan. A member of the royal branch sacrificed himself to seal away the beast inside one of the newly born twins. A baby girl's screams echo through the house a special seal etched on her belly.

"Do not hate me, little one; this was for the sake of out clan. I must go now, but I leave to you the responsibly of the royal branch," the elderly man said, laying the baby girl next to her twin brother before passing on.

'_13 years ago my grandfather sealed the dragon demon Chusi inside of me to save our clan. That's one of the jobs of the royal family, to protect the secrets of the Uchiha clan,'_ thought the black haired girl, _'I, Katara Uchiha, am now the only living heiress of the royal branch of the Uchiha clan.'_

The dark haired girl walked down the road, her ivory skin contrasts against the long black hair that was braided out of the way. She use to wear it down where it flowed down her back to mid-waist, but since the Uchiha massacre she's always tied it up out of her way. Navy orbs reflect hurt and sadness to those who are close; others would never notice them. The black ninja dress cascaded down her body, the sleeve only reaching the tops of her shoulder, the collar reaching mid-neck, at the waist it split into two panel looking cloth that reached mid-thigh, black shorts were worn under the dress, the Uchiha fan was centered on her back right between her shoulder blades, and a red dragon was embroidered on the bottom front panel. Black ninja shoes clothed her feet as she walked along the dirt road. The basic black shuriken poach clung to her right thigh and a leaf headband clothed her forehead.

'_I'm only 13 and I'm already an ANBU Black Opps member. I could be a captain, but I'll wait on that for now at least till after this one mission,'_ Katara thought, '_this is a very special mission needing a higher ninja to lead.'_

"Lord Hokage," Katara said as she bowed respectfully at the third Hokage.

"Oh Katara, I'm glad you could make it. Your team is already assembled and waiting at the front gates. I assume that you already know what the mission is," the Third stated.

"Yes, Lord Hokage, my squad is to accompany a sand village squad to the Moon village, who are on the brink of war as we speak."

"Good, now you must leave at once."

"Hai, Lord Hokage." With a bow Katara disappeared.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Sasuke, Shikamaru, Naruto, and Kiba sat by the village gate waiting on their squad leader to appear at any second.

"Hello, boys," a sweet voice suddenly said, scaring the four boys.

"Katara, don't do that! You're going to give us a heart attack one of these days," Kiba yelled after he jumped into the air five feet.

"Gomen nii," Katara softly said, looking down at the ground.

"It's okay," the four boys said in unison.

"So all of you know what our mission's about right?" Katara asked.

"Yeah," came the chorus of boys.

"Good then let's go."

The small group advanced down the path heading towards Suna.

"We should be getting very close and hopefully we don't get caught in a sandstorm," Katara commented as she ran in front of the small group.

'_We've gotten here soon than expected hopefully that won't mess up any plans or anything,' _Katara thought.


	2. Chapter 2

_AN: sorry for the ooc-ness_

"Kazekage-Sama," Katara greeted as her team entered the Kazekage's office.

"Ah, the team from the leaf. You got here early," the Kazekage commented.

"Yes, we know that," Katara replied.

The Kazekage looked around the room at the small room before saying, "I thought the Hokage would send more people or at least those higher than Genin."

"I am ANBU Lord Kazekage, I assure you that Lord Hokage staffed this mission correctly," Katara assured.

The Kazekage's eyebrows lifted up.

"That surprises me."

"I don't see how, but that's up to you. You can believe me or you don't, I could care less really. Now why don't you tell us where we can find the sand team that we will be helping?"

"Gaara and his team are still preparing for the mission. If you want to help you will first have to see Gaara to find out what still needs to be done or my son Kankaro," The Kazekage explained.

"Thank you Lord Kazekage." Katara bowed once again before exiting the room with the four boys fallowing close behind her.

"I'm going to guess that the one in black with the purple face paint is the Kazekage's son. What do you guys think?" Katara asked as they approached a small group of ninja.

One in a black suit with a weird design painted on his face stood in the middle of the small group giving out orders to others that soon scrambled off to complete those orders. Katara walked up to the man that was several inches taller than she was.

"You are Kankaro, correct?" Katara asked the older male.

"Yes and who are you?" he asked, eyebrow rising slightly at why a Leaf ninja was already here.

"Katara Uchiha," Katara replied, "I know we are a bit early, but that couldn't be helped. Is there anything that we could do in the time between now and when we will be leaving?"

"Well, you could find Gaara for us, he went missing a little while ago and things could end up bad," Kankaro stated.

"Um, no offence, but we have no idea who this Gaara is," Katara pointed out.

"Oh trust me when you feel an evil presence you'll know you found him," Kankaro said placing a hand on Katara's shoulder, "hey watch it!"

He yelled at a ninja before rushing off to stop the idiot from doing something stupid. Katara sighed already annoyed with the male. She turned towards her teammate.

"So what do you think? Should we go find the Gaara guy?" she asked.

"I don't know, I really want to rest for a while. I mean come one we just did a journey that normally takes most three days and we did it in one day, what a drag," Shikamaru sighed out.

Katara rolled her eyes. "Leave it up to you to be lazy."

"Well, he is right, we should take a rest. We need it so that we can be fully prepared for the mission," Kiba said.

"Fine, you all be a bunch of whimps and rest I'm going to go find Gaara," Katara said before jumping up on a building before heading in a random direction.

"I think she's mad at us," Naruto stated.

"Hn," Sasuke agreed.

Katara rushed across the rooftops in search of someone that she had no idea what he looked like, or where he would be. Suddenly she stopped, something caught her eye. A figure in the moonlight sat up on a high roof and for some reason Katara found herself moving towards the figure. Quietly she advanced from rooftop to rooftop. Finally she made it to the rooftop the figure sat on; silently she snuck closer and closer to the figure. Messy, fiery red hair came into view, a pale complexion that matched no other, sea foam green orbs shone in the moonlight of the full moon.

"I know you're there," a monotone voice broke through the air.

Katara slipped out from the shadows she hide and came face to face with the red headed male.

"Hi, um, I was just looking for a guy named Gaara. Do you have any idea where he would be?" Katara asked kindly even though the look in the males eyes were one that could kill.

"Why were you looking for me?" he asked.

"You're Gaara! Wow I feel stupid for asking you were you were, but ah Kankaro asked me to find you," Katara replied.

Gaara just glared at the mention of his brother's name. He turned away from Katara and looked back up at the moon.

"Um, Gaara?" Katara suddenly was shy and she didn't even understand why.

He didn't reply. There was a noise in the distance that caught bother of their attention. Katara's head snapped in the direction of the noise.

"Gaara, we're moving out tonight," Kankaro called up to Gaara from the ground.


	3. Chapter 3

"Great," Katara muttered under her breathe, "I'll see you later Gaara, I better get my team ready to move out."

With that Katara flipped off the building and ran the other direction

"Come on," Katara yelled upon entering the small room the four boys were resting in, "we're heading out tonight."

"What?!?" came the chorus from the boys.

"Don't question me, just get ready," Katara sternly stated.

"Alright."

All of them scrambled to prepare for the mission.

Shinobi ran through the moonlight of the desert as they headed to the moon village. A dangerous mission lies ahead of them. No one knew the dangers they were about to be upon. The closer they came to the moon village the closer they come to the awaiting danger.

'_I have this strange feeling like something bad is coming_,' Katara thought as she ran alongside her team, '_right now we have no idea what is going to be waiting for us the closer we get to the moon village's boarder. How can we just run in thinking that nothing could be waiting us? We shouldn't be letting out guard down.'_

"Keep your guard up, I have a feeling something is about to happen," Katara instructed her team.

"You're just being paranoid. We're miles from the boarder! No one's going to attack us," one of the sand village ninja said.

"Thinking like that is what gets people killed," Katara huffed.

"Touchy!" the ninja said putting his hands in the air.

"Shut up over there!" Kankaro yelled at the sand ninja.

'_Stupid fools,_' Katara bitterly thought.

A mile away from the boarder was a surprise of shinobi waiting for the group to come. Katara's uneasy feeling continued to grow.

"Kankaro!" she finally called out to said man.

"What?!?" he called back.

"I believe it would be to our advantage to stop here the night and strategize better for a proper attack," Katara advised.

"I think that might be advisable," Kankaro replied.

The shinobi stopped and pitched a quick camp before strategizes were thrown around.

"Where did Gaara go now?" Kankaro asked upon noticing the absence of the red head.

"I'll go find him…..again," Katara volunteered.

"Alright."

Katara walked a little ways among the green of the forest searching for the male she barely knew, yet felt some unreeling feeling of unknown emotion towards.

"Gaara, what are you going up in the tree?" Katara yelled to the red head, but there was no response.

Katara then jumped into the tree next to Gaara.

"Gaara? Hello anybody home?" Katara asked waving a hand in front of Gaara's face.

Navy orbs met sea foam green ones; a new feeling enveloped Katara, one of understanding and concern.

"Gaara, why do you always stay away from people?" concern washed over her tone and eyes.

"Everyone hates me," came his monotone answer.

"Why would they hate you?" Katara was confused and showed it.

"I'm a demon!" Gaara balled his fists. "My father the lord Kazekage sealed the sane demon Shukaku in me while I was still in my mother's womb. I killed my mother in birth. I was born as the ultimate weapon to save my village, but soon people found that I had emotional problems and soon became a threat to the village I was suppose to save. My father tried to have me killed when I was only six years old. I soon found that to ensure my own existence I had to kill others."

"Gaara, I know what it feels like for everyone to hate you for what you are. I have the dragon demon Chusi sealed in me to save my family. I know how it feels to have no one there to support you and show you love. My family was massacred when I was very little. Gaara, you don't have to kill others to be useful. You can show your father that you are still a human not a demon, or monster," Katara tried to coax.

"I'm a monster!" Gaara screamed as he threw Katara to the ground.

Twigs snapped under Katara as she hit the ground. She never expected him to lash out like that. Katara stared wide-eyed as Gaara hovered over her.

"Gaara," she said wearily.

"Gaara! Don't think it!" yelled a blonde haired girl that looked older than Gaara.

"whatever." With that he walked away which shocked the girl that yelled at him.

"Are you ok?" she asked once she got closer to Katara.

"Yeah," Katara answered rubbing her back as she stood up.

"I'm Tamari by the way," The blonde stated.

"Katara," she replied.

'_Gaara, I wish you would see that killing will just destroy you?_' Katara thought before returning to the camp with Tamari.


	4. Chapter 4

Katara tossed and turned all night long, the uneasy feeling taking over and also the new feeling she developed for Gaara. She was sure something was lurking in the dark waiting to attack them. Then, a hand grabbed her shoulder in a strong grip, Katara panicked and twisted so a kunai was right against the person's throat, their wrist in a death grip preventing them from escaping. Sea foam green eyes came into view.

"What the heck, Gaara?" she asked harshly.

"There's a group coming this way, wake your team. We can't be found here," he stated.

"Fine."

Katara was about to remove the kunai from his neck when she noticed the sand protecting him from being cut. She pulled away quickly to not be caught staring at his neck. Quickly she woke Kiba, Shikamaru, Naruto and Sasuke.

"Come on we're about to get ambushed if we stay her any longer," Katara explained.

The group quickly went into action to gather everything needed.

"What do we plan to do?" Katara asked Gaara as everyone prepared to move out.

"This is a large group coming, everything would result in confrontation with them," Gaara stated.

"Then the best choice of action would be to make them believe we don't know of their presence and still have camp her and when they attack the camp we would ambush them," Katara suggested.

"It may work, but it would be hard to pull off." Gaara turned towards Katara, a smirk formed on Katara's face.

"Just wait and see."

Shinobi hide behind the lush, green leaves hidden from the glow of the full moon. They crotched waiting for their enemies, clones peacefully slept disguised as the shinobi hiding in the trees.

'_with Naruto's multi-shadow clone justu we can fool the enemy, then with Shikamaru's shadow possession justu we can stop the second wave, that surely was to come, for a few moments at least. Once their trapped we'd have several ninja ready to attack those caught in the shadow once their released. Kiba and three people from the sand would take care of that. As long as everything goes according to plan this should work_.' Katara thought out the plan multiple times.

They waited a short while more before they sensed the enemies' presences. 15 ninjas jumped down attacking the shadow clones. 15 more jumped to help the others. Clones exploded as shuriken penetrated the flesh of the enemy. The other 15 found themselves stuck in the shadows of the trees. Katara smirked as her plan worked.

'_Wait there's more still in the trees_,' Katara thought, alarmed at not noticing it before.

As Kiba and Akamaru launched their all fours justu shuriken was launched at a lighting fast speed. Katara relied only on her instincts at that moment; she lunched shuriken and canceled the others out. She jumped down and quickly completed hand signs.

'_Giant fireball justu_,' she said in her head as she inhaled deeply before fire shot from her mouth.

Fire engulfed the trees where the few enemies were hiding. It was quiet for a matter of moments. Every one of the sand and leaf believed that there were no more enemies left. No one knew the ones they defeated were only decoys.

Katara preformed more hand signs and shot water to calm the flames to settle.

"I don't sense anymore, hopefully there isn't another wave. That seemed way too easy to be the best around here. It makes me feel like I'm mission something," Katara slightly mumbled as she mused over this information.

A dark figure suddenly appeared behind Gaara as a speed even his sand couldn't protect him; a sword was in the grip of the enemy positioned to kill Gaara. Katara's eyes flashed red and before she knew it her feet were moving at an inhuman speed, flashes of what her twin brother always told her ran through her mind.

"_Come here Katara," the tall, raven haired boy instructed._

_Navy streaks littered amongst the raven ones. Raven locks only intensified the ivory skin. A navy, high collared, long sleeved shirt clothed his sculpt chest, the Uchiha symbol shown proudly on the back. He wore white shorts and navy ninja shoes. His shuriken holster on his right thigh, at first glance he looked like his cousin Sasuke from the back since their hair style were very similar._

"_What is it aniki?" Katara asked he older brother, though it was only by a few minutes, but he was already at the Chunin level at the age of 9._

"_I want to let you in on a secret," he stated, his voice was soft and kind._

"_Really what is it?" Katara asked excitedly._

"_You know the rule that a shinobi must always put the mission first no matter what, right?" he asked._

"_Of course, Haku, we already learned that." Katara looked up at her older brother from her sitting position._

"_Well, guess what I think of that rule."_

_Katara thought for a moment before answering, "I don't know. What do you think of it?"_

"_I think it's stupid. Shinobi are suppose to protect people and those on your squad they're like your other family. You want to protect your family, Katara, in the shinobi world people that fail a mission are considered scum, but those that let their comrades die when they can protect them are worst then scum in my eyes," Haku explained._

_Katara beamed up at her twin._

"_Aniki, does that mean that's your nindo, your ninja way?" she asked, her eyes sparkling up at him._

"_Yes Katara that's my ninja way." He smiled a caring smile at her._

"_You know what?" Katara asked as her mined decided on something._

"_No, what?" Haku asked, his features reflected his confusion._

"_I think that your right and Iruka-sensei is wrong. We should protect whose precious to us even if it means we fail the mission. So from now on that's going to be my nindo too," she stated proudly, placing her fist to her heart making it a pledge to the both of them._

Only a few seconds before the sword would penetrate Gaara, Katara was there in between the sword and Gaara. Deflecting it only down enough to penetrate her stomach, she grabbed the blade suddenly holding it in place giving Gaara's sand enough time to swirl into a shield around him. She couldn't hold the blade long before it pushed completely threw her. Blood sued out of her mouth onto her enemies face, time seamed to move slowly.

"Why?" Gaara croaked out.

"Because we're the same Gaara. You and I are both jinjuriki hosts. I feel we have a bond between us and my nindo won't allow me to stand by and watch as those precious to me are slaughtered in front of me. I had that happen once when my cousin killed the rest of my clan. I hated the feeling I had then and never want to feel it again. My aniki taught me to protect people. He once explained to me that the sharingan I carry is not meant to slaughter people, but to protect those close to me," Katara explained in between coughing and spiting up blood.

"_Katara, I still hear that you won't use your sharingan during battle though you've unlocked it already," Haku said as the two walked back from the Hokage's._

"_I don't like using it, it kills a lot of people," Katara stated, her mood turning very sad._

"_Katara, I know you don't like the idea of killing people, but you're a shinobi it's our job."_

"_Still I don't like it."_

_Haku shook his head at his sister's stubbornness, "how about you view it different, like many of our ancestors did."_

"_Huh?" Katara was confused._

"_Grandma told me the day I activated my sharingan that it was a gift not meant to destroy people, but protect those close to us from people that threaten them," Haku explained._

"_I never thought of it that way before," Katara confessed._

"_Maybe if you think of it that way it won't hurt as much to use it." Haku's navy eyes softened when he looked at Katara._

"_Maybe," Katara agreed._

"I know it's reckless of me to do this, but I saw no other option. Instead of standing there take care of this guy," Katara pointed out.

Katara had a strong grip on the man's arms preventing him from attacking anyone else. Gaara's sand soon wrapped around the man, crushing him quickly, and more blood splattered on Katara's ivory skin. Katara began pulling out the sword.

"_What happened to Haku?" Katara questioned his teammate._

"_He jumped in front of Fumio before a sword could stab and kill him," the teammate explained._

"_That would be the reason," Katara said more to herself than to the others around her._

"_They say he might be able to recover, but the percentage of him living is very slim," he explained._

"_I figured that," Katara stated looking at the paler face of her brother, "but it's Haku we're talking about her. He always bounces back from things like this."_

_Katara really tried to keep a positive mind set, but something didn't feel right and she was right. Later that night the whole Uchiha clan was killed in front of her eyes starting with her brother, who normally was a strong fighter, but he could do nothing against Itachi now with his injury that is._

Blood rushed over her hands as the sword finally was removed; her knees gave way as blood rushed from the wound. Her vision started to blur as the lost of blood caught up to her.

'_Is this where it ends? Is this what aniki felt when he jumped in the way of his teammate? Am I really going to die here? It's funny, I feel happy that Gaara's alright_,' Katara thought before she fell to the forward losing consciousness.

Sand cushioned her fall, it wrapped around her, protecting her from stray shuriken and justu until medical help could be found. Gaara's heart gave a painful jerk when he saw Katara jump in front of him taking the hit for him. Rage erupted when he saw the blood rushing from the wound. He didn't understand the act of kindness and why he felt this way for someone else. His sand whipped out at the enemy, quickly dwindling the number greatly in little amount of time. Once they were all killed they left, quickly looking for a medic.

_AN: let's test how well you know the other charaters in Naruto. can you tell me how many sayings i used in this that are from other charaters, speacially in the flash backs?_


	5. Chapter 5

Gaara stood in the shadows of the hospital room as the moonlight crept in through the open window. He gazed upon the still form of Katara. Je traced the bandages with his eyes, a new form of rage erupting inside him; A rage against himself. In his mind he blamed Katara's injury on himself; when it's not his fault that Katara jumped in front of him or the ninja attacking at too fast a speed. It wasn't his fault Katara felt the need to save him, was it?

Katara began to stir from her sleep before slowly her eyes began to open slightly. She blinked the sleep away before observing her surroundings.

'_Where am I?'_ Katara thought.

"You're in the hospital in the Moon village," Gaara said as if he could read Katara's mind.

Katara jerked slightly when she heard the monotone voice, pain overtook every nerve in her stomach at the sudden movement. One eye closed as she concentrated on not moving to calm the pain, Gaara stepped out of the shadows of the corner. Katara tried to move slowly to be able to see Gaara without erupting pain within her. Gaara walked to her side.

"You shouldn't move it will only reopen that wound of yours," he stated.

Katara stared up into his sea foam eyes, still trying to sit up. Gaara sighed inside his head before sand wrapped under Katara and placing her gently in a sitting position. Katara was shocked at first but then smiled at Gaara.

"Thank you, Gaara."

There was no verbal reply from him, but Katara knew he said 'you're welcome' in his mind. Silence overtook the two; neither knew exactly what to say.

"Thank you," Gaara suddenly said startling Katara….again.

"You're welcome," Katara replied after deciphering what he was thanking her for.

Gaara lightly touched where the wound was on Katara then touched exactly where it was on him.

"What are you doing Gaara?" Katara was confused by this action and so was Gaara.

"You're the one hurt, but I feel pain here as well," Gaara said, sounding more to himself than Katara.

Katara didn't know how to reply to this. That was when Gaara noticed the wound was bleeding through the bandages.

"You're bleeding again," he said bluntly.

"I suppose I am," Katara relied looking down at her stomach.

"I'll go find a nurse to change the bandage," Gaara said before walking out the door.

"Thank you," Katara said softly.

Gaara had just notified a nurse of the wound reopening and he was waiting till he could reenter the room when he noticed Kankaro walking towards him.

"Kankaro, I need to know what I can do to make someone feel better in the hospital."

Even thought Gaara's tone showed nothing of what he was feeling, his eyes showed concern and nervousness.

"Well, the only think I can think of that you can do is give a gift, or flowers. Flowers always cheer up girls," Kankaro replied, "don't look so shock. I know you're talking about getting something for Katara."

Gaara's eyes widen slightly before walking away. Yes Gaara, it was obvious, she's the only one in the hospital.

Katara sat on her bed being bored and everyone else had already left after popping in for a few minutes. She had almost fallen asleep when the creek of the door caught her attention. A mop of fiery, red hair came into view first.

"Hello Gaara," she greeted him.

Gaara said nothing. He just stood there with purple calla lilies held behind his back. He shifted slightly from one foot to the other thinking of what he could say.

Katara looked at him, confused at why he was acting a bit different than before. And why he seemed to be nervous. Gaara finally decided on what to do.

He took the flowers from behind his back and shoved then towards Katara, holding them about level with her face. A smile broke out on her face when she saw the flowers. She gave a small sniff and took in the fragrance before taking them from Gaara.

"Thank you Gaara, they're my favorite."

_AN: gomen nasai that it's short, but where i want it to go from here wouldn't really fit into this chapter so i'm just making it another chapter. Gomen for the ooc-ness of Kankaro and Gaara, but it couldn't be helped. hope you enjoyed it anyway. till next time ji nai!_


	6. Chapter 6

'_My time in the hospital wasn't a full waist, but still I shouldn't have been that reckless_,' Katara scolded herself.

"Katara, the moon village refuses to make any negations with us. They say that we've insulted them in some way, but won't tell us how. It makes no sense. It's almost like someone is pulling the strings from behind the scenes," Gaara stated as he walked beside Katara.

"Well, the moon village has been known in the past for being manipulated, so it could be a possibility. But that's not a priority right now, there has to be something that we can do to prevent this war. We can't afford another great war. Most nations are still trying to recover from the last one," Katara explained.

'_but when you think of it at a different level someone could really benefit if sand and moon do get involved in a war, they would be preoccupied with most of their military out in the war the villages would be easy targets to attack without much resistance. One nation would be able to triple its size by doing this_,' Katara told herself.

"What are you thinking about?" Gaara asked.

"Oh nothing, lets just focus on finding a way to get negotiations back up," Katara instructed.

"Ok."

'_There has to be more going on here than just being 'insulted' but what?_' Katara continued to ponder.

Katara and Gaara walked down the street in silence, each comprehending every possibility that was revealed to them.

"Ok that's it. I'm just going to talk to them myself," Katara stated, turning on her heels and heading towards the Tsukikage's building.

'_I have a bad feeling about this_,' Gaara thought before turning to fallow after Katara.

The two approached closer to the biggest building, it looked to be five stories high and really old. There was guards posted outside the old, double doors, spears in hand.

'_Great more annoyances,_' Katara thought before thinking of a plan to get inside the building.

"You two what is your business here?" one of the guards asked.

"I have a scheduled appointment with the Tsukikage," Katara quickly lied.

"He's in a meeting at the moment and doesn't want to be bothered by trash like you," the other guard said as he glared at Katara.

Katara returned his glare. She allowed come of the dragon demon's chakra to slip giving a warning to the guard not to cross her. She took a step forward and watched as he coward slightly.

"If I was you I'd watch what I say, or you'll regret it." Her tone dropped to a dangerous low, even made Gaara backup slightly.

"Now step aside before I have to make you myself," Katara demanded.

"y-yes ma'am," they both said in unison as they opened the doors for Katara.

"Gaara, stay out here for now. I can handle this." Katara glanced over her shoulder at Gaara.

"Sure," he replied, crossing his arms he leaned against a tree nearby.

Katara walked down hallway after hallway fallowing a presence she recognized from the past.

'_This chakra, I thought he was dead_,' Katara thought as she continued down the hallway.

"Katara, long time no see," a deep voice whispered into her ear.

Katara flinched slightly at the voice. "Takayuki, last time we met you were almost dead. How the hell did you manage to live through that?"

Katara span around only to be met with an empty hallway.

"What's the matter, Katara-hime? You used to be good at this game," the voice bounced off the walls.

"Why are you even here?" Katara shouted.

"That's a secret. You'll have to catch me first before I'll tell you." The voice then disappeared.

"You and you're stupid games."

"_how are you going to complete your mission if you can't even catch me?" a dark voice teased as it echoed through the forest, sounding like it was coming from every direction._

'_great this is the mission that'll decide if I'll be an ANBU and I have to deal with this,' Katara screamed in her head, 'ok calm down, the Hokage said his kekkei genkai messes with the mind and senses much like genjustu does. He's probably already using it now to get me confused on where he is. Concentrate! You'll hear a slight difference in volume between the real one and the genjustu copies.'_

"_Are you going to just stand there?" Takayuki asked standing in the shadows of a tree._

"_There you are," Katara stated as a fire ball hurled its way towards the taller male._

"_So you finally figured it out. Too bad it's too late." His green eyes darkened as his tone dropped._

_Chakra ropes snapped around Katara's legs and hands, dragging her to a tree seven feet from where she was standing. She tried to forcibly break free, but her attempts were in vain. Slowly the ground below started to sink._

"_Now how are you going to get out of this one, Katara-hime? And you're supposed to be a member of the royal Uchiha clan? How pathetic." He stated as he jumped down to Katara's level, "I used to think so highly of the royal Uchiha's, but now seeing how pathetic they are makes me see how worthless they are."_

"_Shut up!" _

_A flash of red in Katara's eyes caught Takayuki's attention._

'_Normally, I wouldn't use this, but he's using to powerful genjustu for me not to use it,' Katara thought,_

'_Oh so she broke my genjustu with her Sharingon. Is this the famous Mangekyou Sharingon? No this is the Sharingon of the royal clan, the Mangekyou can't even compare to it,' Takayuki analyzed._

'_Forget this,' Katara thought as she quickly performed one handed hand signs._

_Tree roots wrapped around Takayuki rendering him motionless, Katara rapidly produced hand signs._

'_Fire style: phoenix flower justu,' Katara yelled into her head._

_Flames shot out as wind intensified the fire. Screams echoed off the trees as the intense fire made contact with its victim._

_When the flames died down only the burnt wood remained._

"_I already know where you are; there's no point in hiding," Katara yelled as she gracefully flipped backwards, throwing four shrunken to cancel out Takayuki's._

_Katara suddenly disappeared from Takayuki's senses. He stopped his advance and cautiously looked around him not seeing anything, or being able to detect Katara's presence._

'_Earth style: Head hunter Justu,' Katara thought once Takayuki stepped right above her._

_Her hand broke through the earth, clasping on the male's ankle, and dragging him into the earth; quickly performing several fatal combos causing great damage on the bones of the darker haired male, then throwing him back up to ground level. She was about to direct the final blow when three hunter ninja's appeared stopping her._

"_I'll leave him to you then," she stated before turning to leave, a picture of the male near death imprinted to her memory._

'_I don't want to deal with this again,' _Katara thought as she chased after the male.

She ran down the hallway, wheeling around a corner she ran straight into her prey.

"It's not going to go by your plan this time Katara-hime." He gave a dark chuckle before disappearing only to reappear behind Katara.

His hand quickly made contact with the crock of her neck, pinching the nerve enough to cause her to fall unconscious into his arms.

"I'm sorry Katara-hime, but there's someone that wants to see you and you can't see where he's hiding now can you? No, or it'll be my head he bites off then."

Then the two disappeared to a place unknown to the one observing the scene.


	7. Chapter 7

Two onyx orbs soaked up the scene, concern flashed through the black of those eyes before silently the figure fallowed the two. He moved silently and quickly. There was no time to return to the others, he had to act alone in order to protect someone precious to him.

'_I'm sorry Katara-hime, this was the only way. You'll understand soon_,' Takayuki thought as he ran through the forest.

His black hair rustled in the wind as he moved quickly through the forest heading to his master, his venomous green eyes reflected concern, but at the same time fear. He was smart and a great ninja whose name is in the bingo book, but yet he couldn't detect the figure following him. He had his goal on his mind and nothing was going to get in his way, (well maybe Gaara if he found out what happened, but anyway.)

'_I have to find where he's taking Katara, and then I'll try to get her back,' _Sasuke thought as he continued to trail Takayuki.

Takayuki continued through the forest to an abandoned mountain that only had one compound on it. It was bigger than even the Uchiha compound when it was still standing. He carefully brought Katara in through a secret entrance on the side near the mountain side. He swiftly walked down hallway after hallway before turning into a room.

The room was dark blue in color with lots of scenery pictures on the wall. A fancy roll out mat was in the far corner. It was very spacious without a window.

Takayuki placed Katara gently on the mat before closing the door and going to deal with the intruder.

~TS~

"I would kill you, but you are precious to Katara-hime, so I will allow you to live for her sake only. Get out of here now before I change my mind," Takayuki said to the beaten and bloody Sasuke that lay on the ground.

Sasuke slowly got to his feet before deciding it would be better to get the rest before attacking again. He turned and jumped into the forest and slowly makes his way towards the moon village again.

'_Hn, stupid boy; only Katara-hime has ever been able to beat me and you're nowhere near even a sixth of my power,'_ Takayuki thought before he finally went inside after making sure Sasuke was going back to the moon village.

~TB~

"Sasuke, what happened to you?" Naruto asked when he saw Sasuke all bloody.

"He…stole….her," he said before collapsing into Naruto's arms.

"What is that suppose to mean?" Kiba asked.

"He's probably talking about Katara," Shikamaru answered.

"What about Katara?" Temari asked as she and her brothers entered the room.

"We're not sure yet," Shikamaru replied.

"She never came out of the building," Gaara said in his monotone voice, he's eyes reflected sadness.

"We won't know what happened till Sasuke wakes up, we'll just have to wait for now," Shikamaru stated.

~TK~

Katara opened her eyes, navy orbs darted around the room.

'_Where am I?'_ she questioned to herself.

"It's so good to see you awake, Katara-hime," a deep voice said from the doorway.

Light flowed into the room from the hallway causing a shadow of the figure to flow into the room as well.

"Who are you?" Katara asked.


	8. Chapter 8

"I'm Kyo Hisuki," the figure answered.

'_Who the hell is that?'_ Katara thought.

"I've been watching you for a very long time," Kyo stated stepping fully into the dark room.

He snapped his fingers and a servant entered lighting a candle and placing it on a desk that was in the far corner from Katara. Light quickly flooded the room, shapes became clear as Katara's vision cleared. The servant left closing the door behind him.

She watched as the dark haired male walked towards her, a noble's cloth clothed his frame. Muscles were easily seen under the cloth.

"I'm the prince of the Hisuki clan and the mountain nation (AN: just making this up as I go). You are Katara Uchiha of the Royal Uchiha branch. It is ancient legend that a female of the Uchiha Royal family was to marry a member of the Hisuki Royalty. You are the last living member of the Uchiha Royal family. Wouldn't it be nice to live up to this old legend of our families?" Kyo said a smile on his face as he continued to walk towards Katara slowly.

"How about hell no," Katara snipped trying to move away from the freaky male approaching her.

She found herself unable to move a muscle. Panic race through her veins as she continued to try to move.

"Too bad!" a creepy, evil grin crossed his features as he closed his eyes and tilted his head sideways. "You will be my wife in five days time. Servant's will be in tomorrow to fit you into a dress and then we will continue on with the wedding preparation steadily from there."

With that Kyo exited the room and Takayuki entered right after him.

"Katara-hime, it's good you're awake," Takayuki commented, "I brought you your food."

"Here, you need to eat something," Takayuki coaxed as he held out chopsticks with rice between the two clamped pieces of wood.

"I'm not hungry," Katara stated stubbornly turning her head away from the food offered to her.

"I know, it's because of all the information you obtained because of the boss. Don't worry Katara-hime, the boss will make you a wonderful bride. You'll be happy here." Takayuki smiled, "I'll leave the food here for when you do get hungry."

'_You're wrong, I could never be happy here.'_

~TB~

"Do you think he'll wake up soon?" Shikamaru asked looking over Temari's shoulder as she applied first aid assistance to Sasuke.

"I don't know. Hopefully he does so we know what's going on," Temari answered.

"Gaara has been acting weird since yesterday," Kankuro commented.

"I noticed that too," Temari stated.

"Hmm, that's strange," Shikamaru commented.

"Yeah," Kankuro and Temari replied.

~TK~

"I see you finally eat the food that was prepared for you," Kyo commented as he entered Katara's chamber.

Katara just shot a glare in return.

"It is time, my dear, to be fitted to your dress kimono," Kyo continued completely ignoring the glare he received.

With a snap of his finger five female servants entered with delicate cloth clutched in their arms.

"You know what to do, I'll be waiting outside to see how even more beautiful you can make her."

The servants quickly busied themselves in their work. Sadness etched in Katara's features as she complied for the servants to dress her. She worried about the information Takayuki had given her the night prior.

"_That cousin of yours fallowed you here," Takayuki commented as he prepared the bed roll to be more comfortable._

"_What?" Katara's head snapped up at hearing this._

"_Yes, he fallowed you all the way here, but I had to take care of him." Takayuki looked directly into Katara's navy orbs, "But I did not kill him because he is precious to Katara-hime."_

_Katara released a breathe she never knew she held as she heard this,_

"_But he was severally injured during our fight. I'm not sure if he ever managed to reach the moon village."_

"_Sasuke is stronger than you think he is. He made it there for sure," Katara defended though her mind had its doubt._

~TP~

'_What if Sasuke didn't make it to the moon village? What is he is lying dead in the forest somewhere? No, I most not think this way. I know Sasuke. He's strong, he made it to the moon village for sure,' _Katara scolded herself.

"It's finished, master Kyo," came the chorus of servants.

Kyo entered. "I never thought it was possible to make you even more beautiful than you already are."

"Hn." Katara crossed her arms over her chest and turned her nose to the arm facing away from Kyo.

"Soon you will see that you will be with me forever and have to accept it."

"I will never marry you. I will be rescued before any vow will be read," Katara snipped.

"We'll just have to see about that."

~TS~

"I think he's starting to come to," Naruto yelled to the others.

Sasuke began to stir slightly before his eyes finally slipped open.

"Shut up dobe," he ordered.

"Sasuke, what happened to you?"Kiba asked.

"I followed him; he stole her and I tried to fight him, but I failed," Sasuke said cradling his head in his hands.

"What?"

~TK~

"This one," Kyo said pointing at one of the cakes.

"No."

"That's the fifteenth one you've said no to!"

"I don't like them." Katara crossed her arms over her chest and turned away from the male.

"Fine I'm just going to pick one."

~TS~

"Katara? Has been kidnapped?" yelled Naruto.

"Naruto, shut up!" Kiba yelled at the hyperactive blonde.

"Which way did he go?" Gaara suddenly asked causing everyone to stare at him like he was insane.

"Gaara, are you ok?" Kankuro asked.

Gaara completely ignored his brother and had his eyes narrow at Sasuke.

"Up into the mountains….."

~TS~

"Tonight, my dear we will be married," Kyo stated before he exited Katara's room.

Servants enter to help Katara get ready.


	9. Chapter 9

_AN: I'm using an American wedding because I don't really know about Japanese weddings yet._

"It's time, Katara-hime," Takayuki whispered taking Katara's arm.

He walked her down towards his boss, who beamed back at the sight of Katara.

Her navy hair flowed down her back; candles reflected the glow of the smooth hair. The white kimono flowed across her beautiful figure.

Katara just looked down figuring a way to get out of here alive. She knew Takayuki would stop her if she made any more at Kyo, plus all the guards that lined the walls watching her every move. Katara could sense ninja hiding in the shadows ready to attack if she made any more they didn't approve of. Her mind ran rapid formulating situation after situation, each resulting horrible. Her only hope was an outside help, if they made it in time.

"Who gives her hand," the priest asked.

"I do," Takayuki said as he handed Katara's hand to Kyo.

"Do you Kyo Hisuki take Katara Uchiha to be your lawful wedded wife in sickness and in heath, till death do you part?" the priest asked Kyo.

"I do," he said slipping the ring on Katara's left finger.

"Do you Katara Uchiha take Kyo Hisuki to be your lawful wedded husband in sickness and in heath, till death do you part?"

Katara stumbled and paused stalling as long as she could. Kyo grabbed her hand lightly looking her dead in the eye.

"I-I-I," she stumbled.

A noise outside caught their attention. Shadows moved quickly to find what was happening. Seconds later screams erupted and more shadows moved.

"Just say it!" Kyo hissed.

"I-I-I I-I-I d-d-do," Katara stumbled.

"I pronounce you man and wife. Anyone that objects to this union speak now or forever hold your peace," the priest announced.

Sand erupted through the door at the end of the hall. Guards fell one after another dead. Fiery hair came into view through the tons of sand.

"Gaara!" Katara cried happiness overwhelmed her.

"I'm taking that as an objection," the priest stated to Kyo.

"Takayuki!" Kyo bellowed.

Takayuki quickly advanced at Gaara. Sand sprang up guarding Gaara. the sand quickly clasped around Takayuki's fist. Sand started to wrap around his arm, but in a blink of an eye he disappeared.

Katara's eyes widened; Takayuki's speed matched that of the man before. Katara worried if Gaara's sand could protect him. She had to do something to help him.

Kyo grabbed Katara trying to overpower her, but Katara knew Gaara could be in danger and threw Kyo to a wall, in bedding him there. Katara attempted to see Takayuki's movements, but his speed was impossible even for her trained eyes.

'_This is not good. Takayuki's skills have advanced beyond what I even knew. What also doesn't help is this kimono makes my movements slower,' _Katara stressed, '_to save both me and Gaara I'll have to use the Sharingon.'_

Her eyes turned crimson, three teardrops swirled in her eyes. Takayuki was completely visable.

'_You won't be able to attack like that for long,' _Katara thought.

Katara jumped next to Gaara watching as Takayuki ran circles around the two hoping to confuse them into fear.

"Gaara, I have a plan. I'll tell you where he is going to be I need you just be able to capture him for a few seconds so I can hit him with my fireball jutsu," Katara stated.

Gaara didn't say anything.

"To the left in three seconds," Katara whispered.

Sand shot out catching Takayuki's arm and leg holding him tightly. Katara's index finger and thumb rose up to her lips and a massive fireball flowed out burning Takayuki severally.

Gaara's sand wrapped around Takayuki the rest of the way before Gaara crushed his hand killing Takayuki.

"Let's go before he finds a way to get out of that wall," Katara said getsering towards Kyo who still was in the wall.

Gaara nodded before he and Katara ran, as best they could, out of the castle like building. Gaara swiftly picked Katara up caring her quickly towards the moon village.

"Thank you Gaara," she whispered cuddling into his chest as he ran through the forest.


	10. Chapter 10

"Katara!" Everyone yelled when Gaara entered the room holding Katara.

Gaara walked fully into the room and place Katara gently on the bed.

"Are you alright?" Kiba asked quickly.

"Yes, thanks to Gaara," Katara stated, smiling at Gaara who now stood in the far corner of the room.

"Does this make us even?" Katara asked.

Gaara didn't reply, he just stood in the corner with his arms crossed. Katara just continued to smile at him and answer all the questions directed at her.

~TS~

"Thank you again," Katara said as she climbed the rest of the way onto the roof.

"Hn," was the reply she received.

"Can I ask you a couple questions?" she asked.

Gaara just gave a small nod.

"Gaara, why if you think you're only suppose to kill people, why did you save me?" Katara asked looking deep into the sea foam green eyes.

Gaara didn't answer he just stared at Katara.

"Gaara, you're not a demon. You just have a demon sealed inside you. That doesn't make you a demon yourself, Gaara not everyone hates you," Katara stated as she gently placed her hand on Gaara's arm, "there's good in you Gaara. You don't have to kill everyone."

Gaara jerked away from her in that instant.

"You don't understand anything!" he screamed.

"Gaara I'm a jinjuriki host just like you," Katara stated sadness coating her navy orbs.

"You've never had your own father trying to kill you, the same person that put the demon inside of you wanting you dead!" Gaara bellowed anger raging inside him.

"I may not know what that feels like, but I do know what it feels to be hated and feared. I'm a member of the Royal branch of the Uchiha clan. I know what it feels like to walk down the street and have people shy away from you and hate you for what you are, but you can't let that effect you like it is!" Katara screamed.

Gaara's rage overflowed as sand coiled around Katara's body.

"Gaara, you're not a demon. I've never thought you as that and nothing will change that. I love you, Gaara. You can believe it, or you can't. Kill me if that's what you want, but I've told you what I thought of you, how I feel about you. Either way you decide I'm fine with. I'm thankful I met you Gaara," Katara stated a genuine smile crossed her face.

Gaara paused for a moment as if in thought. The sand slowly retracted from Katara returning to Gaara's guard. Gaara's expression to one of confusion.

"Why, why do you feel anything but hatred towards me?" Gaara asked.

Katara smiled and walked closer to him. She placed her right hand over his heart.

She explained, "I can see deeper inside you than the demon Gaara, you have the ability to save people, to care for people. You have the ability to love people. You're not a demon, you're a human being. I can feel that inside you Gaara. You just need a little help to pull it out past the demon inside. Gaara, I want to help you with that. Will you let me?"

Gaara looked down into Katara's navy orbs and saw the emotions swirling around in them. Gaara lifted his hand to Katara's heart.

"We'd have a connection here then?" He asked.

"Only if you want that Gaara, yes," Katara answered.

"Katara, can you teach me what love is again," Gaara asked stepping a little closer to the shorted female.

Katara's smile grew at the comment, "Yes, Gaara I can."

Katara's arm reached up and snaked her hands around Gaara's neck. The other brought Gaara's head closer to her own. She lifted up onto her tiptoes and tilted her head slightly. Her lips ascended upon his for a brief moment before she pulled back a little, Gaara pushed his head forward to meet her lips again.

"Awwww," came Temari's voice from behind the two.

"What happened," came the chorus of boys from down in the stairwell to the roof.

"Gaara got his first girlfriend," cooed Temari.

"What?"


	11. Chapter 11

Katara giggled at the shocked faces that poked out of the doorway to the roof. Sasuke's was priceless as he saw his cousin in Gaara's arms.

"Sasuke, shut your mouth you're catching flies," Katara stated giggling even more.

"Shut up!" Sasuke snipped.

"Sasuke-Chan, you're so cute when you get embarrassed," Katara teased.

Sasuke just turned and walked back down the stairwell.

"While I was gone, did anyone make any progress on the negotiations?" Katara asked the remanding figures at the doorway.

"Well, you see because of the situation we didn't think it was a priority at the time," Shikamaru explained.

Katara shook her head slightly before stating, "We have a lot of work ahead of us."

"Well where should we start?" Gaara asked Katara.

"I know for a fact that there is a group known as the Amustru, their main goal is to start another great war between the nation and through strong clans they intimidate smaller countries to do their bidding. I believe that the Amustru have an influence in this matter," Katara stated.

"We'll have to infestigate tomorrow it's too late too right now," Temari stated.

"I agree let's go get some rest," Katara stated.

~TT~

"I'm surprised you've survived," Kyo stated as he loomed over the mangled body of Takayuki.

"You really doubted my clan that much?" Takayuki questioned as he made several hand signs.

"No, it just surprises me that you can even do this," Kyo recoiled fearing that he'd inangered the male that was healing himself at the moment.

"So I hear you're having problems out here Takayuki," a dark voice stated from the dark corner.

"Katara Uchiha, is here my lord, she's the main problem," Takayuki explained.

"she is a member of the Royal branch so I'm not surprised, but don't forget your real objective here boy, or you will regret it," the tone dropped to a deadly one.

"Understood sir," Takayuki replied bowing respectively to the figure in the shadows.

"Kyo!" the voice barked, "We have an agreement. I sent Takayuki undercover as your bodyguard to make sure it happens. You better hold up your end of the bargain."

"I understand," Kyo replied trembling slightly under the intense stare of the powerful man.

"Good, I better be seeing more results by the end of the week, or else."

"Understood," Kyo and Takayuki replied in unison, bowing to show their respects as the dark figure departed.

Kyo and Takayuki looked at each other and had a silent agreement and they both headed their own directions to begin the next phase of their plan.

~ND~

"I'm going to get down to the bottom of this today," Katara stated determination flowing off of her.

"Alright, but this time I'm going in with you," Gaara stated, "I'm not making the same mistake again."

Katara giggled a little, "Alright, Gaara, I get the point."

"The rest of us will snoop around town and see what we can pick up," Sasuke stated.

"Alright, we'll meet back here tonight. Good luck," Katara stated before she and Gaara left towards the Tsukikage building.

"Let's see if those guards will let us pass without needing a warning this time," Katara stated jokingly.

"You scared me a little when you did that, I wasn't expecting you to act that way," Gaara stated.

"Hehe sorry," Katara apologized smiling a sweet smile.

"It's alright," Gaara whispered into her ear.

"Gaara, I have a bad feeling all of the sudden," Katara warned.

"Why?" Gaara asked.

"Do you see any guards around?" Katara questioned.

"No."

"That's a bad sign, don't let your guard down now," Katara stated, concern flashing in her navy orbs.

"Hai."

The two slowly advanced down the multiple hallways till they reached the top of the building. No one was around, not even a insect flying in the air.

'_Something is deafeningly wrong,' _Katara thought as they approached the Tsukikage's office.

Katara opened the door and searched the darkened room for any form of a figure. There was one in the far back corner.

"Katara, it's so nice to see you again," a familiar voice rose to Katara's ears.


	12. Chapter 12

"Kyo," Katara hissed.

"Yes it's me, did you miss me?" he asked, his tone a joking one.

"Like hell I did," Katara snipped a deep glare directed at the male.

"Tsk, tsk, a princess shouldn't talk like that. I may have to punish you for that," Kyo stated with a smirk.

"Like you could," Katara stated, daggers still being sent at the male.

"Maybe I can't, but he can," Kyo stated pointing behind Katara and Gaara.

"Katara-hime, it's nice to see you again," the figure stated.

Katara whipped around to look at the person shock and confusion clouding her navy orbs. Her pale features screamed her confusion as she looked at the male not believing it was real.

"How? You were dead when we left," Katara questioned.

"Maybe, I'll tell you, but I rather not. I know let's play another game, Katara-hime, if you win I'll tell you and everything else you want to know, but if you lose you have to come with me," Takayuki bargained.

"Katara, don't listen to him," Gaara warned.

"I know," Katara replied.

Kyo popped off, "too bad really, since Katara your fate has already been decided. You'll be coming with us whither you like it or not."

"I want to see you try," Gaara snapped, sand exploding around Katara and himself, "try and touch her and you'll be a dead man."

"Oh really," Kyo challenged.

With a snap of his fingers a hundred ninja appeared and in a brief second disappeared in all different directions.

"Remember these guys, they're the reason you almost died before you reached this village," Kyo chuckled.

Gaara growled at him. Kyo smirked, but that would soon change when sand rushed out and pierced him strait in the heart. The other ninja dropped left and right as Gaara lashed out protecting Katara the whole time.

Takayuki quickly dodged multiple attacks before he appeared right behind Gaara.

"Instead of focusing on protecting Katara, you might want to think about keeping up your guard," Takayuki whispered in his ear before knocking him out.

Using a special jutsu he picked Gaara up and disappeared a far distance away from Katara.

"Now Katara, let's rethink this game. If you win I will tell you how I'm alive, what is going on behind the scenes of these negotiations, and I'll give you back your precious Gaara," Takayuki stated a smirk forming on his lips.

Katara growled at him.

"You little," she stated through tightly gripped teeth.

"It's your decision," Takayuki stated.

He performed a one-handed hand sign and a blue light surrounded Gaara before he suddenly disappeared.

"Just so you don't get the bright idea just to attack and steal him back," Takayuki smirked bigger.

"What did you do with him?" Katara yelled, anger boiling up inside her.

"Oh don't worry, he's in a safe place, but if you don't hurry and win this game he'll die."

Takayuki laughed an evil laugh as he looked at Katara unfazed by her glare.

"Come on, Katara-hime, it's time to play."


	13. Chapter 13

Takayuki jumped backwards doing a back flip before he ran down the hallway.

'_What is with him and running away in a game,' _Katara asked herself.

Katara darted down the hall trying to catch up with him as fast as she could. She didn't care at that moment about what the Amustru where planning all she cared about was saving Gaara and if he died Takayuki was going to die a painful death for sure.

'_Why am I thinking like that? I'm going to save Gaara, there's no way I'm going to let him die. No, not happening. Takayuki, you better be ready to get your butt kicked and fast.' _Katara glared at the retreating back of the taller male.

Takayuki suddenly stopped when he was in an opening deep in the forest where no one could get in the way.

"Katara-hime, ready to hear the rules of the game?" he asked.

Katara glared as her answer.

"You have to beat me in a fight, anything goes. You have only an hour to complete this or I won't tell you where I've hidden Gaara," Takayuki stated.

"I've beaten you before you really think that I can't beat you again?" Katara questioned in disbelief.

Takayuki smirked, "well you see, Katara-hime, you've never seen the real power I hold. Also every time I nearly die and use a sacred jutsu of my clan my power increases."

'_So that's how he's alive and the reason he seems stronger than the last time,' _Katara thought.

"So what I'm still going to beat you," Katara yelled.

"Then let's begin, Katara-hime," Takayuki stated.

He disappeared and reappeared behind Katara kicking her in the back causing her to fly into a tree.

'_It looks like I'll have to use the Sharingon, to save Gaara I'll use it,'_ Katara stated to herself.

She closed her eyes for a brief second and when she opened them again her eyes were red with black floating in a circle.

'_So she's going to use that, oh well it won't help her much,_' Takayuki thought cockily.

Katara preformed hand signs at lightning speed; she brought her thumb and index finger to her mouth as if she was holding a straw and blew out multiple fireballs out each hiding kunai. Then she preformed even more hand signs and this time her hands hit the ground causing the plants around Takayuki's legs to wrap around him holding him in place.

Takayuki disappeared before the kunai could hit him and he reappeared a fair distance away performing hand signs of his own. The earth around Katara trapped her hands and feet. More hand signs were created and she started to sink into the earth just like the first time they met.

'_That's not going to work this time Takayuki,'_ Katara thought.

She performed as best she could one handed hand signs and did a reversal jutsu causing Takayuki to start sinking in the earth. Katara broke free from her binds and charged at Takayuki before she disappeared and reappeared to the right of him performing even more hand signs. She summoned a pair of twin dragon blades that she stuck in the ground parallel to each other. Then she performed sever series of hand signs. She bit her thumbs and drew the Uchiha symbol on her palms before placing them on each of the hilts of the dragon swords.

'_Sacred art: twin dragon blade fury,' _she yelled in her head.

The earth rumbled and lightning stuck right on Takayuki shocking him greatly. Then the earth tossed him in the air and multiple fire balls hit him from every way they could, the wind picked up increasing the flames. As Takayuki crashed back down to the earth plants wrapped around him pulling him to a tree and holding him there.

"You may be able to use a jutsu to revive yourself when you're almost dead, but my dragon blades won't only kill you but take your soul as a sacrifice. I win Takayuki, now tell me where Gaara is," Katara demanded.

"He's at the mountain house I took you too. Down in the sacred chamber, good luck finding it, and since you've killed Kyo and me, the plans to make the Sand and Moon be at war will freeze over. You win, Katara-hime, and I don't mind dying by your hand," Takayuki stated, "goodbye Katara-hime."

With that Katara slashed off his head with the twin blades.

Katara ran through the forest as fast as she possibly could. She just hoped she wouldn't run into anymore problems. She broke through the doors of the compound and quickly ran towards the faint chakra source of Gaara's. She opened the door to a stairwell that lead downstairs and practically jumped all the steps as she leaped into the darkness.

"So you really did beat Takayuki, I knew he was too weak, but that won't matter. You'll die here Katara and end the line of the royal branch forever," a dark voice stated.

"Show yourself," Katara demanded, her Sharingon eyes searching for some outline of a body.

"Here I am," the figure said as torches all around the room lit up.

A dark figure that had no face as far as Katara could see stood holding Gaara up by the strap that held his gourd.

"Come on Katara, defeat me and I'll reverse the jutsu on him," the figure stated.

"No problem," she stated.

The dragon blades still clutched in her hands, the dragon sealed inside her feed the chakra to them.

She lunged at the figure aiming for his heart when he disappeared causing Katara to tumble into the nearest wall.

"Petty attacks like that would only work on Takayuki," the figure stated.

Katara smirked, "Then I won't go easy on you, I'll show you the power of the Royal Uchiha Clan."

"Show me then, you only have 15 minutes before he dies, can you defeat me in that amount of time?"

"To save the one I love, I will do anything to defeat you even if I have to use my demon side to do it," Katara stated glaring at the figure.

"I like that about you."

Gaara was thrown into the far corner of the room away from harm of the battle. Katara attacked rapidly trying to cut vital places. The battle continued like this for ten minutes before Katara started to get frustrated and desperate. A slight portion of her demon chakra leaked out powering the dragon blades even more. All elements the dragon blades control spiraled around the blade causing it to become 10 times more powerful. In a flash the figure was in front of Katara about to plunge a kunai into her chest. Katara reflexes reacted by stabbing the figure in the stomach with one of the dragon blades. Lightning rapidly flowed through him causing him to go numb and not be able to move any longer.

"Reverse the jutsu now," Katara demanded turning the sword half a turn in his stomach causing him to spit up blood.

"Fine, you win."

A gush of wind blew out the torches and when they were relit the figure was gone and Gaara was stirring slightly.

"You win this time, but the next time one of my plans are in motion, you will be the one defeated," the voice boomed from every direction.

Katara ignored the voice completely as she rushed over to Gaara. she picked up his head and placed it in her lap making him slightly more comfortable as he slowly woke up. She stroked his firey hair trying to calm her worries.

"Katara," Gaara softly asked.

"Yes, Gaara, I'm here." Katara smiled down at him.

Gaara raised his hand and he placed it on her check. Katara leaned into the touch.

"I'm happy, you're safe," Gaara stated looking into Katara's eyes.

"Me too," Katara agreed.

Gaara slowly sat up before he stood and offered his hand to Katara.

"We still need to find the Tsukikage," Gaara stated.

"Yes, and I have a feeling that he's within this building," Katara agreed.

"Let's go find out."

~TS~

"Yes, Lord Tsukikage, thank you," Katara said bowing slightly at the elderly man in front of her.

"No, thank you. Without your help our village would have been in a lot of trouble. This is the least I can do to repay you," the Tsukikage stated.

"We will inform the Kazekage right away of this agreement," Katara stated.

Gaara and Katara bowed in respect before leaving the Tsukikage's building. The two rushed to the building they had been staying in.

"The treaty had been recreated," Katara stated to the group that sat around waiting for the two to return.

"Yay," everyone cheered.

"Let's go back to the Sand village," Gaara stated.

And the group was off back to the Sand village to inform the Kazekage of the recent events.


	14. Chapter 14

As years passed the two by and several new obstacles came into play, but were overcome easily. The more troubles they faced it seemed the closer they became. At the moment it was their sixth anniversary of being a couple and Katara had just arrived at the sand village after getting Lady Fifth to allow her to take two weeks off to be with Gaara.

"Oh, Katara-sama, Lord Kazekage has been waiting for you. He's in his office," one of the many servants stated upon noticing the female.

"Arigoto," Katara replied with a small smile before heading up the many stairs towards Gaara's new office.

"Gaara," Katara whispered as she opened to door to the office slowly when he didn't answer.

'_Stay calm, it's not like the last time. He can't be kidnapped. He's probably just sleeping because he's been overworking,_' Katara told herself looking back at the time the Akatsuki took Gaara.

"Gaara," she called again, this time entering fully into the room.

As her eyes became accustomed to the darkness as figure at the desk became visible. Katara stepped closer and lit one of the many candles in the room. As light fled into the room Gaara's face was visible as he lay halfway on the desk.

'_He's so cute when he's asleep and since Shukaku is out of him now he's able to sleep,' _Katara thought as she brushed his hair out of his face a little, '_I'll just let him sleep for awhile, he probably really needs it.'_

Katara looked around the room noticing it in a total mess and decided she would tidy up a bit while her love slept soundly. In a short time she had the papers that were flung every which way into neat stacks according to their context. Each pile, ordered by its umbrella term in alphabetical order.

Katara had just placed the last papers on a pile when Gaara began to stir from his slumber.

Gaara's eyes fluttered opened, he blinked several times blinking away the sleep. He finally noticed the other figure in the room with him.

"Katara?" He questioned still not fully awake.

"Yep," She answered walking over to the desk.

"How long was I asleep?" Gaara asked rubbing his eyes trying to wake up fully.

"Well you've been asleep for at least four hours since I got here, but anything before than I wouldn't know," Katara smiled as she replied.

"Why didn't you wake me when you got here?" Gaara asked in alarm.

Katara placed her hands behind her back and gave an innocent smile as she replied, "because I know you and how you like to overwork yourself so I thought the sleep would be good for you. I don't want a repeat of last year because you overworked yourself and didn't get much sleep."

"But still you should have woken me up," Gaara practically whined as a response.

"No," Katara leaned over the desk and whispered in his ear.

Gaara gave her a look that was a glare mixed with annoyance.

"Besides, I got your office clean while you were asleep," Katara gave another innocent smile.

"I didn't need help with that," Gaara huffed.

"Yeah, sure whatever you say love," Katara stated rolling her eyes.

"So how much of this were you suppose to have done today?" Katara asked.

"…" Gaara didn't reply.

"Which means most of it," Katara sighed, "I'll help you this time."

"You said that the last time," Gaara pointed out.

"I know," Katara replied placing one of her piles on the desk, "I didn't say I won't the next time now did I?"

Gaara didn't give a reply he just grab a small stack and hid his face.

"I win," Katara stated happily.

Gaara glared over the top of the paper.

"What?" Katara questioned throwing the most innocent and cute expression she could muster at Gaara.

Gaara blushed slightly and hid his face again.

Katara giggled at him but started helping Gaara.

~TS~

"Finally finished," Katara huffed as she put the last of the papers in their specific spot.

Gaara nodded, "I wasn't meaning us to be working on our anniversary."

"I know, but I'm off for two weeks. We can always celebrate late. Also we've finished all the work for tomorrow too so we'll have a little of free time," Katara stated.

Gaara shook his head, "no we are celebrating today."

"You're so difficult at times," Katara sighed.

Gaara grabbed her out of the office and up to the roof. There stood a small table set for two, basking in the moonlight. A jar of sparkling grape cider chilled on one side. Strawberries dipped in three different types of chocolate sat in a rose designed bowl. Gaara led Katara over to her seat and pulled it out for her. She sat down and Gaara pushed it in for her like any gentlemen would do.

"Thank you Gaara," Katara said with a smile.

"You're welcome," Gaara replied.

He took his seat across from Katara and three servants entered bring bowls of Soba.

_AN: because of my English teacher I am not writing a lot in the descriptive so the rest of this chapter will probably be like that._

The moonlight danced across the table as the two lovers talked. The strawberries soon consumed, the cider guzzled down as minutes turned to hours. It was long past midnight when the two would soon abide ado and return to their separate rooms to rest. The black haired beauty lifted from her chair and was about to leave; a hand clung to her wrist causing her attention to return to the male still at the table. He slipped a small black box into her hand and walked towards his office.

Katara, now left alone on the roof, examined the felt covered box. She slowly lifted the top off revealing a sapphire stone, a dazzling royal blue in color. A gasp passed her lushes lips. In seconds she was dashing down the stairs heading for Gaara's office, which in turn was still on his way there himself.

The male wandered slowly debating with himself whether he should return to the roof, or continue on his current path. His mind finally decided on a plan of action and he turned abruptly just in time to catch the figure lunging at him, the two toppled to the floor.

"Yes," Katara stated simply.

Gaara's sea foam green orbs expanded to dinner plates at that one single word, a tiny smile ghosted its way across his handsome features.

"I love you, Katara," he whispered.

"Ditto," she whispered back.

~TS~

The nest week held flashes of the pair planning the ceremony. Plans were made quickly between a few pranks from Kankuro such as his puppets throwing cake at the two when they were trying to decide which they preferred. The date was set finally and a hawk was sent to the sixth Hokage with the information.

~TS~

"Temari, I'm really nervous," Katara confessed as she slipped into her white kimono.

"Don't be, we're all here for you," Temari stated.

Katara glanced around the room at the five smiling faces, "Let's do this."

With a great sigh she stepped out of the back room and headed towards the door of the shrine where the Groom's men stood waiting. Each clad in a sherwani1 of black and grey. The order in which they stood waiting to escort the braids maids into the service is: Sai who would escort Ino, Neji whom is escorting Tenten, Lee escorting Sakura, and Shika who would escort Hinata. Temari would fallow behind Hinata fallowed by Kankuro walked down holding the pillow with the rings and Hanabi walked beside him dropping Sakura petals on the aisle. After them stood Sasuke who would be giving Katara's hand to Gaara.

A signal was given and the doors opened. Sai and Ino began to walk down the Aisle heading towards Gaara and Naruto who stood by the priest. Ino wore a black kimono trimmed in crimson red, just like all the other Braid's maids; her hair up in a Princess Knot2 a Kanzashi3 of nine crimson flowers, in the center of each flower was a pearl and gold accents that held it in place, on the outside to the right were five pins that were used to hold the piece in place, red waves that resembled petals draped down from five cords each petal like fabric only centimeters from the next; the cords reached to Ino's shoulders. The other Kanzashi was similar, but less complex; it had nine flowers with pearl center just like the one on the right but did not have the cords hanging down and attached with five pin on the left.

Neji and Tenten fallowed; Tenten wearing the same Kimono, but her hair was down for once reaching to her shoulder blades.

Lee and Sakura advanced next. Sakura wearing her hair up in an half up half down do, a Kanzashi comb decked out in pink and red sparkles(_for lack of a better term_) that resembled cherry blossoms.

Shikamaru and Hinata went next; Hinata's hair up in a traditional bun with the same Kanzashis as Ino in her hair.

Temari was next, but unlike the others her kimono was black trimmed with red but red flowers littered the fabric. Her hair for once up in a single bun with different Kanzashis than the rest; hers had eleven flower all either a light pink, a deep red, or a few had three red petals and two white petals. These did not of the pins that stuck out the sides the one on the right still had the cords that hung down in corms of petals, but unlike the other's this one had three rows of white petals in the five cords and the rest were red; the one on the left exact same as the one on the right besides the cords draping down.

Kankuro and Hanabi walked down next, Hanabi with a plain black kimono and her hair down dropping Sakura petals on the ground.

Katara went next and the traditional "here comes the bride" played as she walked down the aisle. Her white kimono bringing out her complexion and as she walked the Sakura blossoms seemed to dance about the fabric. Her hair up in a bun with Kanzashis in her hair; they had thirteen flowers that were light pink and white with yellow centers. The cords on the one to the right had three rows of white and the rest a light pink to match the Sakura bouquets that lined the aisle. The Kanzashis didn't have the pins out to the sides like her braid's maids did.

Japanese lanterns of light pink, red, black, and white hung about the room lighting the room as though it were a festival. Sasuke and Katara had reached the alter the priest began to speak.

"We are gathered here today to see the uniting of Lord Gaara and Katara Uchiha, who gives her hand in marriage?" the very elderly man asked.

"I do," Sasuke stated as he handed Katara's hand to Gaara who helped her up the stairs.

"The rings please," He said to Kankuro, who handed Temari and Naruto each a ring.

Naruto handed the ring to Gaara who slipped it on Katara's left ring finger.

"Do you Lord Gaara take Katara Uchiha to be your lawfully wedded wife through sickness and in health, till death do you part?" the priest asked.

Gaara gave a ghost of a smile to Katara before answering, "I do."

Temari handed Katara the ring and Katara slipped it onto Gaara's finger.

"Do you Katara Uchiha take Lord Gaara to be your lawfully wedded husband in sickness and in health, till death do you part?" the priest asked.

"I do," she answered with a smile.

"I now pronounce you man and wife, anyone that objects to this marriage speak now or forever hold your peace," the priest announced, "You may now kiss the bride."

Gaara leaned and kissed Katara passionately and there were hoots and woof calls from the audience and from the wedding party as well.

"I present you Lord and Lady Kazekage," the priest stated as Gaara escorting Katara back down the aisle.

That night everyone danced and had fun with the ones they loved most and everyone lived happily ever after. _AN: yes I couldn't help myself but say it the corny way._

is formal dress wear for men in Japan similar looking to that of a soul reaper uniform from Bleach.

you have a ponytail and you twist the rest of it and twirl it around the ponytail to make something similar to a cinnamon roll like bun.

floral combs and clips worn in the hair of Japanese women.

_AN: It's finished! Thank you KataraUchiha654719 for giving me this challenge to write I hope you enjoyed reading as much as I did writing it. Arigoto simos for supporting this story everyone._


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